Forced air circulation cooler for bottled beverages



April 1943- c. F. MuNsHowER 2,439,261

FORCED AIR CIRCULATION COOLER FOR BOTTLED BEVERAGES Filed May 18, 1946 v 2 Sheets-Sheet l 3mm Clarence F. Muns h owsr April 6, 1948. c. F. MUNSHOWER 2,439,261

FORCED AIR CIRCULATION COOLER FOR BOTTLED BEVERAGES Filed May 18, 1946 2 sheds-sheet 2 2:94: 25% 52/- ass 2E?" gwuvwim C Larence F. Munshowcr Patented Apr. 6, 1948 FORCED AIR CIRCULATION COOLER FOR BOTTLED BEVERAGES l Clarence F. Munshower, Columbus, Ohio, assignor to Colbar, Inc., Columbus, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application May 18, 1946, Serial No. 670,746 Claims. (01. 62-102) 1 This invention relates to improvements in the construction of mechanically refrigerated coolers, and has particular reference to that type of cooler employed in maintaining relatively large numbers of beverage-containing bottles under conditions of cold. dry storage.

Restaurants, hotels and beverage dispensing establishments require in the conduct of their business large coolers capable of simultaneously receiving and. cooling in an externally dry condition several hundreds of beverage containing bottles. coolers should be so designed as to compactly receive relatively large numbers of bottles, admit of ready selection and removal of such bottles, and to provide for rapid and uniform cooling of bottled beverages, so that the latter will possess desired temperatures upon removal from the cooler. Bottle coolers now commercially available of the mechanically refrigerated type are subject to the following criticisms: first, the limited-storage capacity which such coolers possess per cubic foot of storage space, second, the inability of such coolers to rapidly reduce the temperature of the bottlev beverages placed therein, and, third, the

inability of such coolers to uniformly cool to arequisite temperature all bottles placed therein.

It is the aim, therefore, of the present invention to provide a bottle cooler having an unusually high storage capacity for standard twelve ounce bottles, receiving a greater number of such bottles per cubic foot of storage space than other standard types of coolers now available for this purpose. Such increased storage capacity is attained in the present invention primarily by the provision of a novel means for stacking and arranging the bottles in the several compartments of the cooler cabinet.

Another salient feature of the present invention is the provision of refrigerating elements in the cooler so formed and-disposed'that each bottle under storage will directly and physically contact with a cooling element, so that the bottles will be cooled in the main by conduction and only in a secondary way by convection, whereby not only are the bottles and their contents more rapidly cooled than heretofore, but exacting uniformity is attained in temperature regulation, so that each bottle and. its contents will attain closely regulated temperatures of a desired low order.

A further object is to provide such acooler with improved means for circulating chilled air through its bottle compartments, whereby to maintain the contents of the bottles at required temperatures by both conduction and convection.

It is, therefore, important that such In my prior Patent No 2,279,483, granted April 14, 1942, I have disclosed a dry bottle cooler in which the bottles are maintained in physical contact with refrigerated panels and while in the present construction, I employ the same principle of cooling through conduction, I additionally pro vide for the forced circulation of cooled air through and around the bottles undergoing storage, so that improved cooling effects are obtainable.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will be gained by reference to the following description and the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a bottle cooler formed in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view taken through the cooler;

Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical sectional view taken through the cooler on the plane indicated by. the line 33 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a similar view on the plane disclosed bythe line 4 4 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a top plan view of the cooler with portions broken away and shown in horizontal cross section;

Fig. 6 is a detail perspective view of one of the air circulating ducts.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, the numeral I designates the chest-like cabinet of the bottle cooler comprising the present invention. This cabinet may be of any desired external configuration, having walls. formed from standard materials employed in refrigerator or cooler construction. Usually these walls are heavily insulated to resist heat, transmission. Internally,

the cabinet is of box-like form, having a' bottom wall 2, vertical front and rear walls 3 and I, respectively, and vertical end'walls 5. The open top of the cabinet, through which access is provided to its interior, is preferably angularly disposed and provided with a plurality of slidable doors or covers of the type indicated at 6. The doors may also be insulated and adapted for travel in guide grooves Lone door sliding over the other when the cabinet is opened.

Arranged vertically in longitudinally spaced order within the cabinet are transversely ext-ending cooling plates 8. These plates are of a. standardized design and are known commercially as cold plates. Each plate comprises a thin hollow sheet metal body with the surfaces thereof protected by a corrosion-resisting zinc coating. Within the interior of the bodies forming the cooling Plates, there are disposed tubes or coils end walls of the bottle storage. space of the cabinet, as to provide a plurality of vertically disposed air-circulating passages If. These passages at their upper ends communicate with an air-advancing duct l3, which is formed longitudinally in the lower part of a horizontally positioned manifold M, which is located in the rear upper portion of the cabinet. In the compartment l l there is positioned a motor actuated fan or blower l4 having its air discharge side in open communication with the inlet end of the duct l3. Air drawn into the fan or blower is advanced longitudinally of the duct and enters the passages l2, traveling downwardly through said passages and contacting the cold walls of the refrigerated plates 8. The passages l2 at their lower ends communicate as at l5 with the bottoms of the bottlereceiving compartments it of the cooler so that as the cold air sweeps upwardly through the compartments IE, it intimately contacts the bottles positioned in the latter and, through convection, exercises a cooling effect thereon. Formed in the manifold M in the duct I3 is a parallel air-return duct ll, having openings l8 which face toward the rear wall of the cabinet. Preferably, the openings l8 are located in this position so that their area will not be varied by the placing of bottles or other objects on the flat upper surface of the manifold. Air from the bottle compartment 16 is drawn into the duct H by way of the openings I8, and is returned to the inlet side of the fan or blower l4.

The bottoms of the compartments 16 are equipped with racks. I!) having reversely inclined upper surfaces 20 on which the bottles undergoing cooling are deposited. The inclination of the surfaces 20 is such as to maintain the base end of each bottle in direct contact with a surface of one of the cooling plates 8.

In view of the foregoing, it will be seen that the present invention provides an efllcient cooler for bottled beverages. All bottles positioned in'the cooler are chilled by direct contact with refrigerated surfaces and, additionally, by the forced passage of refrigerated air thereover. By this dual method of cooling, bottles positioned in the cooler may be quickly brought to and maintained at a reducedtemperature palatable for soft livering air to each of said passages for downward circulation therethrough and upward circulation across bottles arranged in contact with said panels, a return duct for air travel, and motor actuated means for effecting forced travel of air through said ducts and passages.

2. A cooler for bottled beverages, comprising a cabinet, a plurality of vertically arranged longitudinally spaced refrigerating panels stationarily mounted in said cabinet, the spacing of said panels producing a plurality of bottle-storage compartments therebetween, said panels being formed with vertical air passages, oppositely inclined supports provided in the bottom of said compartments for the reception of bottles resting on their sides, the inclination of said supports being such as to positively maintain the base-end of each bottle in direct contact with one of said refrigerating panels, and positively acting means for forcing air downwardly through said passages and upwardly through said bottle storage compartments.

3. A cooler for bottled beverages comprising an outer cabinet, a pair of vertically arranged andrelatively spaced refrigerating panels mounted within said cabinet, the spacing of said panels being such as to provide between them a bottle storage compartment, supporting means provided in the bottom of said compartment for the stacking ofbottles in substantially horizontal positions with the base end of each bottle in contact with one of said panels, each of said panels being formed with imperforate walls having a. refrigerating coil arranged therebetween, said panels being spaced from the inner walls of said cabinet to form vertically disposed air passages, a duct for delivering air to each of said passages for downward circulation therethrough, the lower ends of said passages being in open communication with said bottle storage compartment for the upward circulation of air through said comair through said duct and air passages for down-,

ward circulation through the latter and upward circulation through a bottle storage compartment disposed between said refrigerating panels, a return air duct disposed substantially in the upper part of said cabinet and communicating with said air displacement means, said return duct providing for the recirculation of air through said cabinet, and means disposed within said cabinet for supporting a plurality of bever-v age bottles on their sides with the base ends of said bottles in direct contact with said vertically disposed refrigerating panels.

5. -A cooler for. bottled beverages comprisingan outer. cabinet, a plurality of vertically arranged and relatively spaced refrigerating panels mounted within said cabinet, a plurality of bottle stordriven air-displacement] the lower ends of said compartments, and a, re-

turn air duct arranged adjacent to and in paraliel relation with said forced air duct, the return air duct being in open communication with 15 2,327,649

the upper regions of said bottle storage compartments, said return air duct leading to said airdisplacing means for the recirculation of refri erated air in said cabinet.

' CLARENCE F. MUNSHOWER.-

REFERENCES CITED 7 The. following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,241,558 Read May 13, 1941 2,279,483 Munshower Apr. 14, 1942 Keighley .4 Aug. 24, 1943 

